Loons on WHEELZ

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Loons are now on wheels - WHEELZ, that is.

The Great Lakes Loons announced Thursday that they have formed a partnership with Citadel Broadcasting Company, Inc., making Saginaw radio station WYLZ-FM 100.9 (more commonly known as WHEELZ 101) the Loons' flagship radio station.

All 140 Loons' games this season will be broadcast on WHEELZ 101.

Loons' President and General Manager Paul Barbeau said WHEELZ had the strongest signal of the stations that the Loons had considered.

"Our biggest criterium for selecting a partner was finding a station that reached the largest percentage of our audience, because we're a regional team," Barbeau said. "As we evaluated options, 101 FM had the greatest reach, so that was a big plus.

"I don't think any one station would (reach) all our fans, but this was the one that did the best job of it," Barbeau said.

FM stations have a stronger signal at night than AM stations, Barbeau said.

"We got really excited when we had the opportunity to have a signal on FM," he said. "AM stations are required to power down at night. Of the FM stations, this was the best."

Barbeau said that WHEELZ also provides marketing opportunities for the Loons because of its sister stations in Citadel Broadcasting: WILZ-FM 104.5, WKQZ-FM 93.3, WHNN-FM 96.1, and WIOG-FM 102.5.

"This agreement gives us promotional opportunities with all Citadel stations," Barbeau said. "In turn, we will promote WHEELZ and their (sister) stations."